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True War Stories comes to shelves in April with proceeds being donated to service-related charities

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Image Comics has announced that upcoming military anthology, True War Stories—edited by Alex De Campi and Iraq War veteran, Khai Krumbhaar, and with art from Peter Krause, PJ Holden, Skylar Patridge, Dave Acosta, and more—will hit shelves in April. It will feature new design touches, new cover art by Richard Johnson/Newsillustrator, and be available in trade paperback.

True War Stories was originally launched on Kickstarter in 2020 to eventually be released by Z2 in 2021.

Proceeds from the book will be donated to service-related charities chosen by the contributors as being personally meaningful to them: Objective Zero Foundation, Air Force Assistance Fund, the USO, Armed Services Arts Partnership, Paws & Effect, and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

True War Stories collects 15 true tales of American service people overseas and brings them to life in sequential storytelling form. They range from hilarious and heartwarming to heroic and sobering.

It focuses on the individual experience of people on deployment: the stories they want to tell. Nearly every branch of the military is represented, and the stories are told by a mixture of active duty and retired soldiers. This isn’t about politics or American foreign policy, it’s about the people in uniform who tend to get forgotten in all that.

The tales include that of Vietcong sappers who attack a fuel point—only to be foiled by a very alert German Shepherd, a young Airman coping with post 9/11 paranoia in Okinawa, a team of SEALs rescue a kidnapped girl in the Philippines, Army interpreters in Iraq battle their toughest foe: the rats infesting Saddam’s palace, and more.

True War Stories trade paperback (ISBN: 978-1-5343-2812-9, Lunar Code 0225IM452) will be available at local comic book shops on Wednesday, April 30 and independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones on Tuesday, May 6.

Alex De Campi and Z2 Comics Return to Kickstarter for True War Stories: Tales From Deployment

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Z2’s diverse fall publishing slate continues to be revealed with projects from today’s biggest names in entertainment. Today, the publisher recruits members of the US military for an ambitious project: share real war stories told by those who lived them in an entertaining and moving work of graphic nonfiction which launches exclusively for presale through the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform. This unique project pairs veterans with some of the biggest names in comics, as assembled by the multiple-Eisner nominated writer/editor, Alex de Campi and co-edited by Iraq War veteran Khai Krumbhaar.

Vietcong sappers attack a fuel point, only to be foiled by an unusual alert guard dog. An MP guards convoys of mystery bombs in the Thai jungle in 1968. A young Airman copes with post-9/11 paranoia in Okinawa. A Marine sniper in Haiti faces the repercussions of the shot he never took. A team of SEALs help rescue a kidnapped girl in the Philippines. Army interpreters in Iraq battle their toughest foe: the rats of Saddam’s palace. A soldier on a late-night run surprises a motorpool saboteur. A young cavalry lieutenant, fresh off the Battle of Kamdesh, meets the Marine half-brother he’s never known. A Navy ship reacts to an unexpected man overboard. And if you’ve ever wondered what Christmas was like in a war zone, you’re about to find out.

True War Stories is a 260-page full color graphic novel anthology containing fifteen true tales of American service members overseas. Nearly every branch of the military is represented in this collection of stories that are heartwarming, heroic, harrowing, and even at times, hilarious, spanning the globe. 

True War Stories will be published by Z2 Comics in time for Veterans Day in November. All profits from the book’s retail release will be donated to military-related charities chosen by our contributors as personally meaningful to them: Objective Zero Foundation, Air Force Assistance Fund, the USO, Armed Services Arts Partnership, and Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Artists include the great Peter Krause, Ryan Howe, Skylar Patridge (drawing her own father’s Vietnam story), Eoin Marron, Tish Doolin (a former Army medic), Dave Acosta, A. D’Amico, Drew Moss, Josh Hood, PJ Holden, Chris Peterson, Sam Hart, Jeff McComsey, and Paul Williams. Colors are by Dee Cunniffe, Matt Soffe, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Tarsis Cruz, and Aladdin Collar. All lettering is done by de Campi herself.